Scarborough: Feels Like Obama ‘Treading Water’ in Iraq, One ‘Half Measure’ After Another

10 Jun 2015

On Wednesday’s “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, co-host Joe Scarborough reacted to a possible trial balloon floated by the White House in The Wall Street Journal that suggested President Barack Obama may be considering putting some troops back in Iraq.

He noted that some of the previous measures have not been enough, which seemed to be a pattern of this administration when dealing with ISIS and Iraq.

“Trainers aren’t going to help by themselves,” Scarborough said. “You never know what’s going to happen. A lot of people said the surge with I guess 30,000 troops wasn’t going to be enough. Most of the generals I talk to said it wasn’t going to be enough. It ended up being enough. It’s hard to say, but it just feels like the president is treading water. He does one half measure after another half measure. I’m not being critical of him expanding troops in Iraq. But is he doing it for political reasons because he once again slipped up yesterday and said we don’t have a strategy? Or, Willie [Geist], is he starting to unveil a bigger strategy instead of saying, ‘Well, I’ll put troops in Iraq so I can get these headlines and people can get off my back’? That’s the biggest concern that most foreign policy leaders have – that there’s no overarching strategy here.”